StaTuesday: Receiving targets for Badgers after three games
Will it be Bart Houston or Alex Hornibrook at quarterback for Wisconsin when the Badgers play Michigan State? Or perhaps, as head coach Paul Chryst keeps indicating, it will be both.
Each quarterback obviously presents a different style -- not to mention they throw the ball with different hands -- but do they also look to throw to different receivers?
In Houston's two-plus games, he has mainly thrown to three receivers: Jazz Peavy, Rob Wheelwright and Troy Fumagalli. Those three represent 49 of the 72 targets thrown by Houston, or 68 percent.
By contrast, that trio accounts for six of Hornibrook's 18 targets, or 33 percent.
Of course, Hornibrook's first game came in garbage time against Akron with Peavy and Wheelwright done for the day (and in his second appearance, Fumagalli was hurt).
Here's the total targets thus far for both QBs:
| HOUSTON | TARGETED | CATCHES | DROPS | INT | INC/PEN |
| Fumagalli | 12 | 9 | |||
| Ingold | 4 | 3 | |||
| Ogunbowale | 4 | 3 | |||
| Peavy | 21 | 10 | 1 | ||
| Penniston | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Ramesh | 1 | 1 | |||
| Rushing | 6 | 5 | 1 | ||
| Steffes | 2 | 2 | |||
| Taylor | 1 | 1 | |||
| Wheelwright | 16 | 9 | 1 | 1 | |
| TOTALS | 72 | 44 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| HORNIBROOK | TARGETED | CATCHES | DROPS | INT | LOST/PEN |
| Cephus | 1 | 1 | |||
| Fumagalli | 1 | 1 | |||
| Ingold | 1 | 1 | |||
| Ogunbowale | 1 | ||||
| Peavy | 2 | 2 | |||
| Penniston | 2 | 2 | |||
| Rushing | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Taylor | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Thrown away | 1 | ||||
| Wheelwright | 3 | 3 | |||
| TOTALS | 18 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Some notes:
-- INC/PEN means an incomplete pass which was nullified due to a penalty. While that pass won't count on the QBs record for attempts, it was still a play, so to speak, and helps give insight.
-- LOST/PEN is similar to the above, except it was a completed pass lost to an offensive penalty.
-- Thrown away means just that. The game book might give the target as the nearest receiver, but in reality the pass was not trying to be completed, just thrown out of bounds to (likely) save a sack.
-- Wheelwright had the most targets vs. LSU with eight. Peavy and Fumagalli had seven apiece.
-- Against Akron, Houston targeted Peavy 10 times and no one else had more than five (Wheelwright).
-- Both Peavy and Kyle Penniston were targeted a game-high six times against Georgia State. Both had four targets from Houston and two from Hornibrook.
-- Wheelwright had more targets from Hornibrook (3) than Houston (2) vs. Georgia State.
-- Limited numbers, but Houston has targeted running backs/fullbacks nine times (12.5 percent) and Hornibrook just twice (10.5 percent).
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players From the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
